Hanoi: Banh My & Banh Bao

Up North They Spell it Banh My:

Yes, in Hanoi they spell it "Banh My", not Banh Mi. And most of the stands we came across only have 2 basic types; Banh My Pate(where you choose your meat), and Banh My Trung(egg). I had thought about not doing this post since I never managed to take a good photo of the Banh My in Hanoi, even though we had a few of them. The best we had was from this little stand next to Pho Cuong on Hang Muoi Street.

The drill, at least for us was pretty easy....you order a Banh My Pate, a Baguette is put into the little toaster tucked into the side of the stand, and the lady pointed at different meats.

You nodded yes, or no to what you wanted. In this case the Cha Lua(lean pork sausage), and the Fatty Red Pork Sausage next to it. The Woman cuts a chunk of pate from the block, places it into a little pan, and heats it up to melt the pate.

We usually decline the butter. The Woman smears a good amount of pate on the warmed roll, adds the chopped meats, tops everything off with cilantro, wraps the sandwich in newspaper, bags the deal, and you're good to go. For 8,000 VND(50 cents US).

So what's the difference between this, and what we get here in San Diego. Well first, I found the pate to be a bit creamier, and milder in flavor. It is quite good.

The second thing is the bread:

 

The baguette is very light and airy. In fact, if you bit an end off, you could almost deflate the whole deal. It does have a bit of chew, and a nice light, yeasty flavor. The crust is thin and super flakey; the Missus said it explodes like a croissant. The crust is not hard and crusty...in other words, you won't tear the dermis off the roof of your mouth.

I've spoken to a few people who have been to Vietnam about the baguettes; and some of them are surprised I enjoyed the bread so much. They consider it cheap bread, without substance. I think of it as heavenly, both light and flakey. In fact, the Missus and I miss this type of baguette. Everything we've had since we returned has seemed too hard, not flakey enough, and much too doughy.

Here's an okay Banh Mi Trung.

We had this at the Airport in Hanoi. Pretty greasy, too much butter, and the egg was oily. The baguette was the same though.

As far as I'm concerned, this could be the "breakfast of Champions" for me:

Banh Bao:

You recognize this right away:

Classic, Chinese-style steamed bun. This one was bought on the corner of Duong Thanh and Bat Dan. It looked so good, so we stopped and asked the Woman how much it was. Unable to understand us, a young man eating on one of the stools told us 5,000 VND. Which was no problem. Except to this woman, who understood "5,000", and proceeded to give the guy a piece of her mind. She than made the sign of "four"......we still gave her 5,000 VND, but being the honest vendor she was; she gave us change! You gotta love her honesty.

The filling in these is an interesting mixture of pork, bean thread, and cloud ear fungus. And it is all topped off with a quail egg.

It can be a bit on the greasy side. But, along with the Banh My, was really great for the train ride to Sapa.

 

It will sit in your stomach for a looooong time.

Mountain Apples:

I was amazed to see a vendor carrying these around in her baskets.

We called these Mountain Apples while growing up in Hawaii, but I now know they are more commonly called Malay Apples. I don't recall seeing them since I left the Islands. The Missus, never having tasted them, bought a few. And they were just as I remember, a bit tart, with crisp meat, and sometimes a mild bitter finish.

Along with calling  Iced Coffee with condensed milk Cafe Nau Da, instead of Cafe Sua Da, there's an interesting pronounciation for "R's". Ruou, is pronounced Zeee-ot, and Rieu Ze-ew. It didn't make much difference for us, because we butchered things pretty bad anyway. But it was made apparent when we inquired about things, and ended up spelling them. And we'd get; "oooh, Bun Ze-ew!"

So just a few items I had waiting for the moment to post. I hope everyone is keeping cool this hot weekend!

Comments

[santos.]

hi kirk! in malaysia, i was told the mountain apples are called jumba (or wax jumba), in the philippines they are called macopa. here in guam, they're just mountain apples.

i'll bet you can get a good approximation of that baguette using some sort of wonder bread-type recipe....

[Rachel]

LOL love your description of pronounciations. you just gotta love a language that appears to have english phonetics but nothing is prounounced like it seems!

Was the meat similar to what you get in Cali? Did they serve it with picked carrot and onion? Did they douse it with chilli or fish sauce? I need to get the dirty on my favourite vietnamese dish! you probably need to do an around the world banh mi comaprison coz in Sydney that is the condiments we get with our banh mi. It even differs from city to city as my cousin tells me that in melbourne you can get hot meat in your banh mi whereas in Sydney it is always cold.

[Wandering Chopsticks]

Kirk,
Have you tried the Banh Mi Che Cali banh mi? I like them best b/c the bread is light and airy, with a crackly crust. Just retoast it before eating.

Don't worry about the language thing. Northern speech always confounds me. All those ZZZZ's. I like differentiating between my R's, G's, and D's. :)

[nhbilly]

WoW - I guess I'm having banh my ;-) today for lunch. As for me I'm a fan of any type of bread that comes fresh out of the oven - gooey, chewy , or airy.

[ed (from Yuma)]

Another fascinating post. I'm missing banh mi.

But hot; you folks in SD don't know hot. Here, it'll be 109 today and 111 tomorrow. So come visit Yuma and then you'll really love the weather in SD.

[foodhoe]

of course I shouldn't come looking here when I'm hungry, now I have a serious banh mi craving... I know what you mean about bread that shreds the roof of your mouth, I hate that! The steamed bun was so purty, so was the sitting in your stomach for a long time a good thing I wonder? I like things to stick to the ribs, but not usually sit in my stomach!

[kat]

mmm mountain apple! haven't had that in years!

[Kirk]

Hi Santos - I've been following your posts. I just keeping wanting more. It was interesting to see those mountain apples in Hanoi....I don't remember when I saw them last.

Hi Rachel - They love their Maggi in Hanoi, but it tastes totally different from the Maggi sauce here. I thought the meats had a bit more "spice" to them, and the pickles were a hit or miss item...only one of the places placed them in the sandwich. Here it really depends on what you're ordering. They will slather on a good bit of margarine or butter if you're not careful.

Hi WC - Thanks for the rec....I'll make sure to drop by when I'm in the area. It was kinda funny; we thought we'd been saying things wrong.....until we got back and asked a few people.

Oh Billy, you carb lover you!!!

But Ed - it's a dry heat!!! ;o)

Hi FH - The Bao was very heavy and the dough dense...so it kinda stayed with you for a while.

Hi Kat - I thought that was neat....I hadn't had mountain apples in over a decade!

[jeff c]

Kirk, the fruit at the end of the piece is really interesting. Other names are jambo, Lien wu. Their is a type grown in Kaohsiung called black pearls because they grow larger and are purple and supposedly sweeter. These are a favorite of almost everyone in Taiwan. Diary of a Foodie included an episode about a Brazilian chef who has converted his backyard to growing several hundred different fruits and one of these is the Jambo or mountain apples.

Cheers,
jeff

[RONW]

I haven't seen a mountain apple (or "Jambo") in years....until now.

[Kirk]

Hi Jeffrey - That's pretty neat! We'll be on the look-out for it when we're in Taiwan.

Hi RONW - I kinda remember it being scarce before I left the Islands. We used to have it all the time when I was growing up.

[Beach]

Kirk,
You are in luck. You can find the same Banh Mi at Banh Mi Cho Cu in Westminster at the corner of Hazard and Magnolia. Try their Banh Mi Bi. Their baguette is very much like what you describe. Happy eating.

[Kirk]

Hey Beach - Thanks....I can always count on you for the recs!

[farrah]

wow -- mountain apples! i haven't had one in such a long time!

**funny how you write a whole post about the tons of different foods and the one thing i comment on was the mountain apples!

[Kirk]

Hi Farrah - It seems that quite a few people found the mountain apples interesting.....I guess they're getting harder to find back home.